Losing a beloved pet is every owner’s worst nightmare, but that fear became all too real for one dog owner when their furry companion went missing in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness.
According to People, LouLou, a four-year-old husky-doodle mix, went missing on October 10 when an avalanche swept two experienced mountaineers who were with the pup about 500 feet off a mountain ridge in Chugach State Park. The mountaineers suffered severe injuries and were taken to the hospital. However, LouLou was nowhere to be found.
Lauren Padawer, one of the hiker’s girlfriends and owner of the dog, was notified about LouLou being missing, but there was one critical issue: she was overseas’s for her father’s birthday and unable to physically help find her dog.
However, that didn’t stop a determined Padawer from using all available sources to help find LouLou. She called Alaska rescue groups, a backcountry ski group, and several other people who could help in the efforts of locating the dog.
“I just wanted to exhaust every resource I had and only give up [knowing] I did everything I could do,” she shared with People. “But to be fair, I wasn’t sleeping much or well during this time.”
LouLou’s AirTag Was Key To Her Rescue
Padawer told People that, thankfully, LouLou was wearing an AirTag, which offered a valuable clue in the search for her beloved dog. However, with LouLou somewhere in the vast Alaskan wilderness, the device couldn’t pinpoint her exact whereabouts.
“On an ordinary map, that might not seem enormous. In the rugged Chugach Mountains, half a mile can mean an entirely different ridge, drainage, or mountainside especially with rapidly shifting and intermittently stormy weather,” she told the outlet.
Soon, more than 20 people began searching for the pup on the ground, and volunteer pilots Amanda Barker and Dave Beckett were also searching for LouLou from above. Meanwhile, Padawer was still overseas, mapping out Apple’s satellite imagery from LouLou’s AirTag.
Soon after, she located the area where Barker and Beckett received another signal from LouLou’s AirTag. After approximately 50 hours, pilots were able to finally find the missing dog standing in the snow, which made her especially difficult to see given her white coat.
In a clip shared by ABC News, LouLou can be seen sitting on the snowy mountainside from an aerial view before rescuers make their way to her. According to Padawer, LouLou sustained only minor injuries during her ordeal, including a broken toe and a fractured canine tooth. Her owner believes LouLou’s fondness for sleeping outdoors may have helped her endure the more than 50 hours alone in the Alaskan wilderness.
“I think she’s just built for cold… she’s got a soft downy undercoat and thick curly guard hairs,” she shared.
In ABC News’ Instagram post about LouLou’s rescue, commenters shared, “My dog still would’ve run and made us catch him on the mountain. 😂.” With another comment reading, “He got lost because he is a Doodle and survived because he is a Husky.”
“These dog rescue videos are really the only good news out there lately ❤️,” one read.
Dog Survives 50 Hours Alone in Alaska Wilderness After Terrifying Avalanche